Beginner's
Guide to PropulsionTurbine
Engine Parts - InletsActivity

If so instructed
by your teacher, print out a worksheet page for these problems. Before You Begin:

As you can see
from the photos below, cross-sections of inlets on turbine engines
are most often either circular or rectangular in shape. For additional
photos, you can search the Web for aircraft engine pictures.
Search for images of engines of other shapes.

For the subsonic
inlet and the axisymmetric supersonic inlets, the cross section is
circular. For the rectangular supersonic inlet, the cross section
is rectangular. Let's review some properties and formulas for circles
and rectangles.

After reviewing
the formulas and properties given above, complete the following problems:

A Boeing 747
aircraft has a PW4000 engine with a 94 inch inlet diameter. Find the
radius, circumference, and area of this inlet.

A DC-10 has a
JT9D engine with a 46.7 inch inlet radius. Find the diameter, circumference,
and area of this inlet.

A Boeing MD-90
has a circular inlet with a circumference of 199.39 inches. What is
the radius of the inlet?

The Airbus 318
has a Pratt & Whitney 6000 engine with a cross-sectional circular
inlet area of 2508.5774 square inches. What is the circumference of
this inlet?

A commercial
Boeing 777 has a large circular inlet with a 112 inch diameter. How
much larger is the area of this inlet than the inlet on the Boeing
747? (Hint: refer to problem 1)

The F-16 military
plane has a smaller circular inlet with a 34.8 inch diameter. Calculate
the radius, circumference and area of this inlet.

The Boeing C-17,
a military transport aircraft has a circular inlet with a circumference
of 246.49 inches. Find the diameter and area of this inlet.

The F18E Super
Hornet has a turbine engine with a rectangular inlet. It has dimensions
of 2'4" by 3'6." Find the area of a cross section of this inlet in
both square inches and square feet.

Suppose there
was a F19E Super Wasp with a rectangular inlet area of 13.5 square
feet. If the length is 4'6," what is the width?

Write a few sentences
summarizing and explaining what you learned from this activity.